Wildfire News Of The Day (the Firebomber Publications blog) provides comprehensive international wildfire news. Subscribers include over 10,000 personnel from fire agencies, contractors, and government entities on five continents. "BEST NEWSLETTER I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY 32 YEARS IN THE FIRE SERVICE" - San Diego Fire Department Chief Brian Fennessy.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 052313

Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rich Brooks, a Reporter with the Riverside Press-Enterprise, interviews Wildfire NOTD subscriber Rick Hatton, CEO of 10 Tanker LLC, about relocation of 10 Tanker's corporate headquarters from Southern California to Casper, Wyoming, and their plans to expand to five or six DC-10s in the future (1); but a 26-acre wildfire in Death Valley has forced closure of the Scotty's Castle tourist attraction (2); while CAL FIRE crews practiced wildland firefighting in Butte County near Oroville (3). The Oregon Legislature has passed a bill which would create a metric for determining wildfire damage on private and public forestland (4); residents of Medford being advised to mow their grass to reduce the wildfire fuel on their property (5). Firefighters battling a 6,000-acre wildfire outside of Nogales, Arizona, pronounced the fire 15% contained Wednesday night (6); the next article providing some tips to motorists on how they can help prevent wildfires in that state (7). Colorado's Governor is preparing to sign wildfire legislation which will impose new restrictions on prescribed burns across state forest land and grant the governor more flexibility on spending money to fight wildfires (8); while the same wildfires that prompted that new legislation have also expedited development on new technology to enhance firefighter safety and responsiveness (9). Bryan Fire Department and the Texas Forest Service unveiled a "Wildfire Pre-Attack Plan" pocket guide which delves into specific tactics, outlining water sources, home construction materials and vegetation types for the community (10); even as Travis County prepares to unveil its Community Wildfire Protection Plan for public discussion next week (11). Wildfire NOTD subscriber Bruce Courtright, Chairman of the National Institute for the Elimination of Catastrophic Wildfire, sent along a link to the first in a series of editorials from the Founder of Montana-based Evergreen Foundation which argues that US publicly-owned forests ought to be managed by trained professionals (12); but now US Sen. Jon Tester has waded into the "Next-Generation" air-tanker debate on the side of Neptune Aviation (13). Florida Forest Service reported that a pair of wildfires near Odessa have been 100% contained (14); while Alaska Division of Forestry reported two small wildfires on the Kenai Peninsula (15). A business owner in Freeport, Bahamas, is furious with the fire department for not responding to a bushfire which did $100,000 in damage to his property (16). A 17-hectare wind-driven Canadian wildfire outside of Edmonton, Alberta, forced the evacuation of 200 people (17); while Ontario has opened a state-of-the-art CL-415 training facility in Sault Ste. Marie (18). Heading to the Mediterranean, wildfires were reported in Tragana, Greece, Bodrum and Çanakkale, Turkey, Al Bayda, Libya, as well as Jebel Chaâmbi and Sousse, Tunisia (19). Deployment of technology which would override radio signals to issue emergency bushfire warnings in Victoria has been delayed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (20); but in the meantime, police have arrested a suspect in regards to a 100-hectare bushfire which threatened homes in Aberdare in January (21). A bushfire survivor who saw four teens die in a Blue Gum Forest, New South Wales, bushfire in 1957 recalls the tragedy in the next article (22); but no charges will be pressed in the case of a 600-hectare bushfire that burned through South Australia's Adelaide Hills because the bonfire which sparked the blaze was set legally (23). And finally, Los Angeles County Fire Department's Forestry Division was honored on the 100th anniversary of the Division's establishment with a plaque in the San Gabriel Mountains!